Posted on 10/14/2012 12:33:37 PM PDT by presidio9
It has been nearly 40 years since the Roe v. Wade decision was announced. Yes, it has been changed over the ensuing decades, with a rapid and disturbing increase in restrictions, some quite literally invasive. Abortion remains the largest and most controversial symbol of a woman’s ability to decide an important part of her own fate. Its use of the implied constitutional right to privacy is the focal point of arguments against its legal viability, despite the same right being applied in other kinds of precedents, such as birth control, consensual sex, marriage equity and right-to-die. (Remember Terry Schiavo? I often wondered if that case would have been handled differently had the patient been a man.)
Personhood for sperm?
Recently we have seen people on the religious right propose elimination of just about anything to do with our reproductive rights, even that eggs and embryos be declared “persons.” (Just like corporations!) And yet those same people have said nothing about condoms or vasectomies. Should we also declare sperm “persons” and consider the legal implications of that? The Equal Rights Amendment, by the way, would protect both genders from that kind of absurdity by requiring equal protection based on gender and by leveling the playing field among the States.
Nobody is anti-life. It isn’t that simple. I, no more than those who are anti-choice — note I do not use the term pro-life — do not know any more than they do when life begins. What I believe is not critical. What is critical is that it is a belief, not a fact. As a lawyer, it is important to me that the laws be based on fact. “Allowing” women to control our own health care and family decisions is not an infringement on your religious freedom; curtailing my rights is an infringement on mine. Freedom “of” also means freedom “from” religion under the U.S. Constitution.
“Choose” to buy a sweater, “decide” to marry
I want to reframe the conversation, the debate, using more powerful words, more indicative of the thorough deliberation opponents believe we don’t engage in, claiming so wrongly that women see abortion as a “convenience”. “Choice” hasn’t worked so far and it doesn’t seem real strong. Like, I choose which dress to wear, or I choose between the tiramisu and creme brulee for dessert. But I decide whether to get married/partnered, whether to have a child, whether to relocate, to go back to school — the big ticket items, the difficult ones that involve the whole me.
As a woman, it is important to me that I be treated as an adult, being permitted by that law to make my own medical decisions. Since it is a medical decision, I have no problem with generally requiring notification of minors’ parents, because, logically, by making a broad exception to laws that require permission for even minor procedures such as tattoos, ear piercing and teeth cleaning, it is we who are tacitly admitting abortion is something different. Yes, I realize there are special cases with good reason to go around the parents. I realize numerous women’s rights activists see this aspect of the debate differently, but our substantive POV is the same.
Learning from the front row
I have another reason, a more personal one, for contemplating this upcoming anniversary: I was the Public and Media Relations Director for Planned Parenthood Chicago in the early 70s, when I was not yet 30 years old. I was the person talking to the Chicago media when the Roe decision was published. I helped put together and deliver the training for our volunteers who did the speaking engagements and staffed the non-medical side of our clinics. I was there when the Chicago facilities expanded from counseling to include birth control and abortion services. I took some of the heat for promoting what the Rev. Jesse Jackson then called “genocide.” I got fired for putting public service announcements in Spanish on Spanish language radio stations, resulting in a personal call from then Cardinal Cody to the Chair of the Board when traffic in those neighborhood offices tripled in 10 days.
I took the Planned Parenthood job not out of a sense of mission, but because it was offered at a time I needed a job. My experiences there were a turning point in my step-by-step journey to becoming what I now call myself: an unrelenting, unrepenting feminist.
I find it hard to believe nearly four decades have gone by. I find it even harder to believe that we are still fighting the same battles for female autonomy and dignity at home even as we tell the rest of the world to treat their women equally. SIGH!
How is this: “MY body, MY brain, MY decision!”
Read more: http://www.care2.com/causes/abortion-is-more-than-a-choice.html#ixzz29IsMhXWr
Abortion: A right defined by the choice to kill. Hell of a right.
You left out the BARF ALERT!
What selfish, self-serving twaddle.
There isn’t an argument in this entire piece, except “I am a slut and kill the baby resulting if it suits my convenience.”
She writes that as a woman she wants to be treated as an adult. If only she really meant that in every sense of the word. And if only this idea of right to privacy really meant that in every area of life. I think then we might find some places of agreement.
But, this writer is persuasive ~ just a bit more obnoxious and she'd get on the list anyway!
"MY, MY, MY! ME, MY, MINE! ME, MY, MINE!"
"And, P.S., to hell with the baby! Stick a scalpel in it, kill it and be done with it! Then throw it in the trash!"
An article that advocates abortion is no different than an article that advocates killing five year old kids by smashing their heads with a ball peen hammer.
Our society would not permit a person to promote killing kids with a ball peen hammer and we should not allow people to promote abortion.
Those who perform and those who have abortions should be executed, those who promote abortion should be sent to prison.
Breathtakingly doubtful.
“As a lawyer, it is important to me that the laws be based on fact.”
Hmmm - as a lawyer, you should understand that that the SCOTUS decision ‘Roe v Wade’ was in no way, shape, or form “based on fact.” It was the single greatest judicial travesty this nation has ever witnessed...
Your ignorance is exceeded only by your arrogance!
>>Hmmm - as a lawyer, you should understand that that the SCOTUS decision ‘Roe v Wade’ was in no way, shape, or form “based on fact.” It was the single greatest judicial travesty this nation has ever witnessed...<<
There are so many legal fallacies and fantasies in this piece, it alone should be cause for the author to be kicked off the bar.
Not only are there not an extra 50 MILLION PEOPLE in American but MILLIONS of WOMEN have LOST THEIR SOULS!!
"IT"S MY BODY, I CAN DO WHAT I WANT"!! Really?? What would happen if a woman cut off her leg?? Her ARM?? She would be taken to a MENTAL HOSPITAL!!!
Abortion is the BLACK PLAGUE of our once moral country.
BLOOD LUST for the DEATH of CHILDREN has taken over these women....amnd they want MORE BLOOD on their hands...MORE....and they VOTE FOR MORE....SOULLESS....They need PRAYERS.
I had to make that “choice” 24 years ago. I chose life, which I thankfully did — I cannot imagine my life any other way. I have a FANTASTIC daughter, and 2 more children to boot. Only regret I didn’t have more.
What would I have gained? A great career? Who cares ... a better man? Who knows ...a better life — cannot imagine a better life and don’t know too many women who have one better than mine, so I doubt it. Been married 25 years to a great guy.
I believe many women are really and truly doing themselves a disservice when they do this. They are giving up the children that will give life to their days, will comfort them as they get older, will take care of them also, as they get older.
In healthcare, i see a lot of really neurotic women in their 50’s and 60’s, 70’s with no kids ...I always wonder if they aborted the only daughter or son that would have provided purpose and stability to their lives.
Women, you really need to rethink both having SO much sex before marriage, and aborting your children. You are abortion your future. I don’t care how wealthy you become, how “powerful” you become in life ...how great your job is, or how many great places you travel to ... it will all eventually FADE, and you will be alone without a family. Or, you will always wonder ...who that child may have been — who/what they woudl have turned out to be.
(trying to appeal to their selfish nature, if nothing else).
I also implore young women NOT to get so wrapped up in what their parents think, what their “image” will be to others, and to forget those big fancy weddings ...can’t tell you how many I know who’ve aborted because they couldn’t possible give up the big wedding or offend their families. That’s just total CRAP.
Her self-professed ignorance and backwoods biology notwithstanding, it has been scientifically proven beyond cavil that an individual human being begins to exist at fertilization.
Lefties don’t know how to talk without Newspeak.
We ALL believe in a woman’s right to choose whether or not to reproduce!
By the time you are pregnant, THE CHOICE HAS BEEN MADE!
Leftists know ... no ... logic.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.